Landscape Architecture Australia — February 2018

Marieluise played such a large part in developing

my view of landscape architecture. My first studio

tutor, she not only allowed us to bury twenty-four

mannequins in contaminated soil underneath the

Bolte Bridge, she also gave us the reins to let us

search and explore the meaning within. Her sheer

excitement for these somewhat strange acts of

scholar was something to behold ... if she was excited

by your ideas she backed you all the way.

Benjamin Kronenberg

Openwork, Melbourne

Marieluise’s insistence on a dynamic reading

of landscape informed the ethics of her design

approach and enabled her to connect with students

and community members. These were connections

forged around a conviction to act ethically and with

integrity – finding, working with and demonstrating

a quiet dynamism in and through a living relationship

with landscape. A remarkable legacy.

Jock Gilbert

RMIT University, Melbourne

I fondly remember discussing aspects of your

doctoral thesis at our research centre. You devised

a theory of place that revealed your compassion

and warmth. While at first sight understated, you

in fact were interrogating the relationship between

public and private and the sort of community

needed to facilitate this. These are at heart very

profound themes for contemporary society and for

contemporary design and planning scholarship.

Hiroshi Naito

Architect and professor emeritus

The University of Tokyo, Japan

We conducted surveys and listened together to the

residents talking about the pot plants of the narrow

“low area” – the so-called shitamachi – backstreets

when you were writing your doctoral thesis. After dining

on the traditional dish of eel and egg during a study

tour of Tokyo, we went to karaoke. I’m afraid you weren’t

such a good singer. After the earthquake you continued

to support us in the Sanriku area, partly by starting the

Genba Gakkai (placemaking) study group.

Satoru Nagayama

City planning division, City of Rikuzentakata, Japan

2015–2016

Program manager

Master of Landscape

Architecture,

RMIT University

2008

Thesis completed

Potscape – A study on the

hybrid landscape of Tokyo’s

informal gardens

2009

Lecturer in landscape

architecture

RMIT University

2011–2014

Program manager

Bachelor of Design

(Landscape Architecture),

RMIT University

ACADEMIA

Inspired by her profound experiences in
Japan, Marieluise finished her degree with
a provocative design thesis that examined
the link between spatial awareness and
physical and temporal constraints of open
spaces in prisons.

After working for two years in a design prac-
t ice in Ha nover, G er ma ny, Ma r ieluise wa s
eager to return to Japan. She applied for a
PhD scholarship funded by the Japanese
government. In 2005 she began her research
at the Keikan Lab at the University of Tokyo,
under the supervision of architect Hiroshi
Naito. Her thesis interrogated the role of
flowerpots as a sensitive mediator between
private and public space. While she was
quick to define her research interest, it took
longer to convince her Japanese audience of
the significance of her work and of the value
of the foreign eye in expanding the knowl-
edge of a ubiquitous phenomenon. She

Marieluise said after my design thesis presentation

in 2011, “I think weeds are great ... I love weeds.”

A simple statement, yes, however, Marieluise’s

confidence in my project and concepts inspired

me to pursue a PhD at the University of Melbourne

and a teaching career at RMIT University.

Brent Greene

RMIT University

LANDSCAPE ISSUE 157 048 — 049

PRACTISING IN ASIA